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worked in New Zealand is very large. They are generally divided into 

 granites, limestones, and sandstones. Of the former, the only quarry is at 

 Adele Island in Blind Bay ; but this valuable stone exists in unbounded 

 quantities on the West Coast of Otago, under the most favourable circum- 

 stances for excavation and shipment. The variety in colour and grain is also 

 very great. It is not necessary to say anything regarding the quality of 

 granite as a building stone, as it is well-known, and no large erection, 

 especially of a marine character, should be undertaken without employing it. 

 Although not properly belonging to this group, but still allied to it in the 

 manner of quarrying, we have syenites from the Bluff, and Nelson Boulder 

 bank ; dolerites and basalts from Port Chalmers, Dunedin, and Lyttelton, and 

 lavas from Auckland. 



Of Sandstones — pure siliceous varieties occur with the coal formations. 

 Flagstones are largely used in Nelson, being obtained from the Dun Moun- 

 tain ; they are very applicable to construction in earthquake countries, but the 

 particular kind found at Nelson is defective from its steatitic character pre- 

 venting the proper adhesion of mortar. 



Freestones— abound in the tertiary formation of New Zealand, including 

 sandstone, clay sandstones, and argillaceous sandy limestones and pure limestone. 

 The hnest is the now famous Oarnaru stone, which possesses characters that 

 excel most ordinary building stones used in other parts of the world, on 

 account of its durability and facility of working, as it is moulded and cut by 

 machinery with even greater ease than wood. The same formation is very exten- 

 sive, and beds of equal quality will no doubt be found in other localities. It 

 is very easily excavated by making openings in the low round hills near 

 Oarnaru. The absence of a good shipping port limits the extensive use of this 

 stone, which would without any doubt become a valuable export. There are 

 no roofing slate mines in New Zealand, but from hand specimens obtained in 

 various parts of the upper Palaeozoic rocks, there is no reason to doubt that 

 they exist in several localities, especially in the neighbourhood of Queen 

 Charlotte Sound, and the Wakatipu Lake. 



Limestones abound in the tertiary rocks, having sufficient purity and com- 

 pactness to fit them for burning, and in the older slate rocks there are a few 

 developments of what in a quarryman's sense may be described as mountain 

 limestone, blue compact, sub-crystalline or flaggy. The most accessible places 

 where this limestone occurs is on the north side of Shag valley in Otago, and 

 near the Dun Mountain in Nelson ; while at Collingwood massive marbles 

 occur, that might be used for ornamental purposes ; cement stones abound in 

 the middle tertiary clays underlying the limestone, and also in more recent 

 clays concretions are found in definite layers which contain almost sufficient 

 lime in their composition to enable them to rank as cements. The Moeraki 

 boulders, — the wonderful size and spherical form of which has attracted the 

 attention of all travellers along the Otago coast — are examples of such con- 

 cretions which have been formed round a nucleus of organic matter. 



Having thus in a very condensed form explained the different mining 

 operations which have been commenced in this country, with the object of 

 showing the extent to which they have been successful, I would remark that 

 all mining involves a certain amount of speculation ; and if, so far, the 

 adventures in this colony have not been invariably successful, yet when 

 we consider how very limited and fitful the attempts have been, and the 

 few localities that have been tested, it must be admitted that there is good 

 evidence that New Zealand is endowed with a fair share of mineral wealth. 

 At the same time we should not forget that unless we have a thriving popula- 

 tion, minerals will not increase the real progress of the country. Many of the 

 richest mineral producing countries in the world occupy a very inferior position 



